


Mad Brilliant

by ScotlandEvander



Series: Over the Rainbow [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Potions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-22
Updated: 2013-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 20:03:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/853506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScotlandEvander/pseuds/ScotlandEvander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Severus had to admit she was right. Since his fall out with Evans, he’d yet been able to find someone who understood potions as he did. While he would never admit it, he missed having someone to bounce ideas off of that wasn’t constantly thinking about the current political atmosphere. </p><p>Not that she seemed to know much. A few tricks, but he got the feeling she did not understand why she did what she was doing. Her face was open. She wasn’t trying to trick or hide things from him. </p><p>“Fine. But if it blows up, I’m blaming you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mad Brilliant

**Disclaimer: If you know it, I do not own it. Parts drawn from _Half Blood Prince_ by JKR**

* * *

Sliding into his seat, Severus scanned the Potions class. NEWT level had scared off many, including Potter. Black and Lupin were still in the class, even though Lupin was an abomination at Potions. He melted more cauldrons than anyone else alive, even Pettigrew. Eyeing the clear potion on the table in front of him, Severus was glad he’d be working alone. The other tables were all filled with students. No one wanted to sit with Severus.

He was fine with this. 

The room fell silent as the bell sounded. Severus pulled out his parchment and quill and paused, realizing someone was standing in the doorway. He could feel someone staring at him, zeroing in on the back of his head. Looking up, he stared back. He’d seen her at breakfast, sitting at the Gryffindor table. He’d heard Narcissa Black complaining about her lack of proper robes and realized how right Narcissa Black had been in this observation.

This girl’s robes were…obscene. Severus had never seen robes cut as hers were. 

The girl smirked at Severus, then scanned the classroom. Black gave her a cocky grin, to which she looked rather exasperated at and marched straight at Severus. She looked as if she was on some sort of mission. She reached the table, pulled out the stool and sat without asking if Severus even minded. 

“Ah, we’re all here!” Slughorn exclaimed, his bright eyes landing on the girl in the dark purple robes. She sat straight, her features carefully schooled. 

She had the breeding of a pureblood. It oozed from her pores. Severus glanced at the other Slytherins in the room, all whom were artfully ignoring her. The only other “royal” pureblood in the room was Black, who looked almost as if someone had punched him in the gut. 

“Before we start— I’m assuming you all know one another,” Slughorn paused as most of the people nodded, “Why don’t we have our exchange student introduce herself? Miss Black?”

Atlanta slowly rose to her feet, regarding the class with disinterest a moment before saying, “I’m Atlanta Dorothy Black. I am not a member of the Most Ancient and Nobel House of Black. Or the American House of Black. I’m just a girl with the last name of Black.”

Severus quirked an eyebrow. Between her posture, the lithe of her voice and mannerism, Severus would have pegged her for an upperclass pureblood and a definite member of the House of Black. 

“I’m here on exchange to learn more about British wizarding society and schooling. It was an intriguing opportunity. I attend Dibonein School of Magic, which is the only co-educational magical institution in North America. We get students from both Canada and Mexico, so our student culture is diverse. I’ll be here for a year, unless I decide I really like it. Oh, and as you might have heard— I hear the rumor mill here is rather fast— I am not living in any of the Houses. I feel my neutrality will benefit my study abroad experience. I have no problem with any of you, no matter your affiliation. I aim to keep it that way.”

She sat down after this announcement.

She was astute, keeping herself out of a House. It left her open to get to know all the ins and outs, socialize with anyone and figure out who would benefit her the most.

A small smirk played on Severus’ lips before he realized it. He figured no one had noticed it, but then he turned to the Black sitting next to him. She wore a crooked grin. 

Severus turned forwards, allowing his long hair to shield his face as Slughorn took roll and launched into his lecture. 

“On the tables in front of you you’ll find several potions that you’ll be able to make after complete the NEWT level Potions course. Now, you’ll have heard of these potions, even if you’ve never made them. Either of you have a guess what this is?”

Slughorn was looking between Black Number Two and Severus. 

“Veritaserum,” they both said, glaring at one another out of the corner of their eyes. 

“Very good, very good. Miss Black, care to tell us what Veritaserum is exactly?”

“It’s a potion that forces the drinker to speak the truth,” she said. “People have been known to be allergic to it, thus rendering it fallible.” 

“Good, very good,” Slughorn said happily. He looked at a loss for a moment. Severus was sure he wanted to reward Black Number Two with house points. “So, how about this one here?”

He moved to the next table that held the four Ravenclaw students. Slughorn rolled back and forth on his heels for a moment, looking at the four students. Each of the students stared into the cauldron, each looking disgusted. None of them said a word, which was odd for a Ravenclaw. Usually they were inquisitive know-it-alls. 

“Sir?”

“Ah, Miss Black, yes?”

“Polyjuice Potion,” she rolled off.

Slughorn looked downright thrilled. His unasked question, was also answered by Black Number Two.

“It changes the appearance of a person,” she supplied, sounding almost bored. “Just add a few hairs. Though, make sure it is human. Not recommended for animal transformations.”

“Correct! And, what about this one?”

Slughorn moved over to the table where Evans, Lupin and Black were seated, all staring at the cauldron that had a mother of pearl sheen to it. There was steam spooling off of the surface, which was characteristic for a love potion. 

“Amortentia,” Black Number Two answered. She looked as if she was having the best time of her life answering the questions easily. She looked almost…shocked. “The most powerful love potion in the world.”

Black startled suddenly, almost falling out of his chair. Severus attempted not to be amused. 

“Correct! Brilliant,” Slughorn praised, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Ah, five points…er, extra credit.”

“Thank you, sir,” Black Number Two said, beaming at him. She looked rather smug as she eyed Black out of the corner of her eye. Black was looking rather freaked out, staring at the potion in front of him while both Evans and Lupin looked concerned for his mental well being.

That was a lost cause. 

“There is another key characteristic to this potion. Miss Evans?” Slughorn asked, turning to Evans.

“It smells different to each person,” Evans said. “As each person is attracted to different things.”

“Ah, correct. Mr. Black, what do you smell?” Slughorn asked, looking bemused, since Black was still acting like a moron. 

“Excuse me?”

Severus quirked an eyebrow. Black must have been very distracted to revert to pureblood manners. Black went out of his way to shed those mannerism, such as saying “excuse me” instead of “what” or the most brilliant “huh.” 

“What do you smell?”

“Oh, uh…well, er—dog.”

“You smell…dog?”

“Uh, sure,” Black stuttered, turning beet red. “Dogs smell. I like dogs.”

Slughorn looked at him as if Black was insane (there was a high probity). Lupin looked rather confused, almost alarmed, by Black’s answer. He kept glancing between the potion and the idiot sitting next to him. Severus felt Black Number Two raise her hand. 

“Sir?”

“Ah, yes, Miss Black?”

“May I smell it?”

“Go right ahead, dear.”

Black Number Two rose up to her feet and crossed the room with ease and grace. It was impossible not to watch her glide. The only way Severus was sure she wasn’t gliding was the noise of her heel each time she hit the stone. She stood with her back to Severus and sniffed. She straightened up and said, “Well, I smell petrichor, cedar and pine…”

She trailed off, looking somewhat confused. 

“And Christmas.”

Severus wondered what Christmas smelled like to the girl. He was unaware Christmas had a definite smell. 

“Petrichor?” Slughorn asked, looking baffled. 

“It’s the smell of rain on dry dirt. Like you get after a dry spell. Or it’s just not rained in a long time. It happens a lot in— well, the desert. We get it in Southern Colorado sometimes.”

“Ah, that’s where you’re from?”

Atlanta shook her head. “Do I sound like I’m from there? No, I’m from North Carolina, y’all.”

She smiled and breezed back to her seat. 

“And the last one!” Slughorn exclaimed after he chuckled at Black Number Two. He came to rest at the table with the three Slytherin students. 

“Felix Felicis,” Evans said before Slughorn had a chance to ask. “That’s supposed to be really tricky to brew.”

“Correct. Five points to Gryffindor. This is liquid luck. Makes you lucky. Anything you set out to do, you’ll succeed till the potion wears off. Doesn’t sound all that dangerous, right? Well, taken in excess, it’ll cause giddiness, recklessness and overconfidence that could be a real danger. You know what they say? Too much of a good thing is bad. Also, if you take too much, highly toxic.”

“Have you ever taken it, sir?” one of the Ravenclaws asked.

“Yes. When I was twenty-four. Perfect day.”

Slughorn smiled at the memory, then launched into a lecture on each of the potions listing their dangers and their effects. After, the class began to brew the Draught of Living Death, a potion that would appear on their NEWT exams.  Severus pulled his _Advanced Potion-Making_ book out of his bag and opened it up. It was a used copy, having belonged to his mother. Black Number Two raised her hand. 

“Yes, Miss Black?”

“I don’t have a book,” she said. “I arrived late last night and my trunk is missing. I’m not sure where it got to, but it’ll take me a few weeks to replace everything. Do you have a book I could borrow?”

“Oh, yes,” Slughorn said, hurrying off. He came back with a ratty copy which he handed to Black Number Two. She flipped it open, making a noise of disgust as she stared at the pages. 

“I think someone barfed on this thing,” she muttered. She gingerly turned a few pages. “Yuck. God, who would have thought I’d miss a freaking book.”

“You miss your own copy? Because it was new?” Severus couldn’t help but sneer.

“No. I like second hand books. Ones with notes into the margins. Also, if someone already wrote in it, I don’t feel bad writing in it either,” she replied. “Frack.”

Severus quirked an eyebrow at her. “Is that an American curse word?”

“No.”

He waited, but she frowned and muttered some more till she asked Slughorn for further supplies, as she had none.  Severus was amazed when she suddenly produced a sliver dagger out of her sleeve.

“What are you doing?” Severus asked.

“Crushing the sopophorus bean,” she replied. “More juice. Trick I was taught by—”

She stopped talking and stared at him as if she was really seeing him for the first time. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, before looking back across the room and then back at Severus. 

“Something the matter?” he drawled, narrowing his eyes. 

“No. Nothing. You agree, though, don’t you?”

“I don’t know,” Severus admitted. “I’ve tried this potion before. I made this over the summer and made a few…alterations. But, not that one.”

The girl looked interested all of a sudden. She moved her stool closer to him — giving a good whiff of whatever she used on her hair, which he placed as violets and something else flowery—  and looked at his book. Her eyes went wide. She slowly looked back up at him, her light greenish eyes meeting his black ones. 

“Interesting,” she replied, yanking a pen from behind her ear. “Though, I think a few changes are still needed.”

“True,” Severus grudgingly admitted. 

“Maybe a clockwise turn here?” she offered, pointing. She scribbled a few of his other thoughts down in her own book. Severus tried to feel the need to yell at her, but he couldn’t help but be flattered she took his adaption of the potion so easily. It was as if she realized by simply looking at his book he was in fact brilliant.

Every ego needs a boots. Even if it was from someone named Black. 

“After how many counterclockwise?”

“That…I’m not sure.” She bit her lower lip a moment, tapping her nose with her writing utensil. “Odd numbers. I’ll take three, you want five?”

Severus quirked an eyebrow.

“We both know it won’t work if we keep going the same direction. It’ll take forever to go from lilac to clear. I’m not an ace at potions, but I knew someone who was. She always said even numbers on clockwise and odd on counterclockwise. ”

Severus had to admit she was right. Since his fall out with Evans, he’d yet been able to find someone who understood potions as he did. While he would never admit it, he missed having someone to bounce ideas off of that wasn’t constantly thinking about the current political atmosphere. 

Not that she seemed to know much. A few tricks, but he got the feeling she did not understand why she did what she was doing. Her face was open. She wasn’t trying to trick or hide things from him. 

“Fine. But if it blows up, I’m blaming you.”

“If it blows up, we’ll both be in trouble,” she said, picking up her knife and crushing her bean up. Sure enough, the shriveled up bean oozed liquid.  

Severus borrowed her knife and crushed his own bean up. Then added that note to his own copy. 

By the end of class, neither of them had the perfect potion, but they had done better than almost everyone else in class, save Evans. Severus studied Black Number Two as she packed up her things. He’d look passed the fact she seemed to only use a Muggle pen, which she tucked behind her ear as the final bell rang. She slid her borrowed book into the expensive looking leather bag.

She had money.  

Severus expected her to scamper off, but she turned and looked at him. 

“You’re the first Slytherin I’ve spoken with. Could I trouble you to know your name?”

“That’s Snivillus,” Black called from across the room. He came up to stand next to the girl, putting a protective hand on her arm. Severus knew this stance. It was one Lupin often took with Black when he wished to prevent him from entering into a dangerous situation and wished to protect Black. 

Severus balled his fists at his side. 

“I didn’t ask you, Black.”

Black looked like he was going to pout for a moment. Was it he was hurt she’d called him Black? He seemed familiar with her. 

She clearly didn’t like his tone. She was giving a rather cool look. She jerked her arm and Black’s hand fell limply to his side. 

Interesting. 

“Atlanta, or just Lanta,” she said, sticking her hand out. She was looking at Severus and ignoring Black. 

Had this happened before? Someone ignoring pretty boy Black for him, Severus Snape? 

“Oi!” Black shouted in disgust.

Atlanta’s eyes bore into Severus’. He had no idea what she was up to, but it was greatly upsetting Black, so he shook her hand.

“Severus Snape,” he replied. “I prefer Severus.” 

“Brilliant,” she announced. She squeezed his hand a bit and let go. Her hands, Severus noted were freezing cold. He glanced at Black and Lupin. 

Black Number Two turned and faced Black. She was so tall, she almost could stand nose to nose with the tall, pretty boy. Severus was a few inches taller than Black, which didn’t really help out much in any way, but it made him feel a bit better. It was the lone physical trait he had up on the spiteful boy. If only he had the brawn Black had, then maybe Severus would stand a chance when Potter and Black chose to take him on in the Muggle manner.  

“Out of my way. Scoot, scoot. I’ve got Charms,” she announced, shooing Black with her hands. “Are you in Charms?”

Black frowned, like he wasn’t sure what to do. Black Number Two hadn’t been addressing him, but rather Evans, who nodded while looking bemused. Severus decided he quite liked the new girl. He also knew, at some point— judging by the daggers Black was glaring at him— he’d have to pay for the exchange in the classroom, but he had the perfect hex to get Black with. 


End file.
